Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : The Enron Scandal - Unmoderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (211)	1/15/2002 7:08:45 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 3602

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill Says Enron Case Shows Things `Clearly Went Awry' By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Tuesday that ``something clearly went awry'' in the collapse of energy giant Enron and he pledged that anyone at the company who violated the law would be punished. O'Neill said that America's free-market system can operate only if investors are given all the information they need to make sound decisions and government does its part to make sure that all the rules are followed. ``In the Enron case, something clearly went awry,'' O'Neill said in a speech to the National Retail Federation. ``The Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation. If anyone at Enron broke the rules, they will be punished.'' O'Neill told the New York business audience that the administration is reviewing laws governing employee contributions to pension plans and he indicated the task force he is heading will probably make changes in that area. He said that Americans' contributions to 401(k) plans ``belong to the individual workers and no one should take control away from the individuals who own those nest eggs.'' Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., asked the General Accounting Office, the auditing agency for Congress, to launch two investigations in the wake of Enron's collapse. One investigation will be to determine how many employees in the past decade have suffered substantial retirement losses because of declines in company stock values. The other probe will delve into the adequacy of current financial reporting requirements. Enron, the Houston-based company which has filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, prohibited its workers for several weeks from selling stock held in voluntary retirement plans while the share price plunged. The Labor Department is investigating whether Enron broke any laws in its handling of employee's 401(k) plans and O'Neill's task force is studying whether the current laws and regulations need to be toughened. It has said that many Enron employees lost 70 percent to 90 percent of their retirement assets after the company admitted last fall that it had overstated its profits for four years and used questionable partnerships to keep debt off its books. President Bush created the administration task force last Thursday, the same day that revelations broke about the number of phone calls Enron executives were making to top administration officials, including O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, who along with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is a member of the task force. As Enron struggled to maintain its credit rating last fall, Chairman Kenneth Lay, who has been Bush's biggest campaign benefactor, spoke with both Evans and O'Neill. Both men have said they did not think it was appropriate for the government to intervene to help Enron. In his speech, O'Neill said that the administration task force ``will look at a broad range of issues, including the rules governing the need to diversify investments in savings plans and the amount of information that should be supplied to employees.'' ``For individuals to make the best possible decisions, they must know that the rules prevent anyone from taking those decisions away from them,'' O'Neill said. He said that the group was also looking into government disclosure rules for companies, an effort he said would be conducted in close consultation with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and James Newsome, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. O'Neill said the aim was to make sure that disclosure rules ``keep pace with the increasing complexity of financial instruments used in our economy.'' In an interview on CNBC, O'Neill said that ``if people knowingly and intentionally violated the law, they ought to be brought to justice. They ought to be treated like criminals because they will in fact have done criminal things.'' O'Neill said he found it ``remarkable'' that Enron had made political contributions to more than half the members of the House and Senate. He said that he made the decision in the mid-1990s, when he was head of Alcoa, to shut down that company's political action campaign fund. ``It takes two to tango and if the givers stop giving, the takers won't be taking,'' he said. biz.yahoo.com

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (211)	1/15/2002 7:14:06 PM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3602

Did you see anything that indicated that I liked cooked books? Or that I was suggesting that anybody be thrown a lifeline? Or that anybody should be given a pass on this? Pure speculation on my part, that is all. Like I said in an earlier post, I expect whoever knowingly took part in active wrongdoing should be hung by the nads and I also think that liability for negligence (where legally appropriate) should be assigned. And I absolutely don't believe in any bailout. So back off Sci Fi Boy!!!!